I set my alarm for 6 am today (01 October 2022) but I woke up well before the alarm. Two weeks ago, I set my alarm to wish my sister, Kala, and my brother-in-law, Nesa bon voyage before they set off on their maiden voyage from Vietnam to Malaysia. Today I set my alarm to pick them up from the west coast of Malaysia in Port Dickson.

They made it back, wholesome! They are back home, 2 weeks after they initially set off, with a couple of detours in between. Kuala Terengganu on the east coast was the first stop in Malaysia five days after leaving Ho Chi Minh. It was a relief to hear from them from Kuala Terengganu after five days of silence. It took another five days to reach Port Dickson on the west coast after traversing Singapore. We were in contact intermittently, telecommunication networks permitting, throughout their sail around Malaysian waters.

It was a privilege to welcome them back from their voyage. What an epic experience. Especially for Kala who is new to the sea. But I knew she would survive it, adapt accordingly and thrive to tell her stories.

I know this because Kala is resilient and will rise to any occasion. But overall, as humans, we are adaptable machines. We have the most evolved organ on the planet, our brain. It helps us adapt when we need to. But it only adapts under the right circumstances. The brain needs to be primed.

A connection of mine on LinkedIn recently wrote a post asking her readers what they did to keep fit and have fun doing it and I replied that I liked mountain biking. Her reply to me was that mountain biking seems hard. I replied, ‘but everything feels hard until we try/do it.’

Just as finding her sea legs seemed like an impossibility, Kala not only found her sea legs but had fun doing it! That takes courage. The voyage was not smooth sailing. They caught some bad weather on the South China Sea that proved challenging. Which included not eating for a couple of days, for Kala, to keep the stomach out of trouble. Whatever it takes to get through.

We are far more capable than we realise. But it requires courage and attention. And we prime our brains through our attention.

Let me give you an example. I took my husband's car to Port Dickson to pick up Kala, Nesa, and Quoc. I do not drive the Ford Ranger often and therefore it needs some getting used to. But getting used to driving is like riding a bicycle. The brain remembers quite quickly.

However, what needs more attention is that the car is a diesel, and it is ‘taller’ than other Rangers. I drive a petrol car and am on autopilot when I fill my car up at a petrol station. The Ranger is a diesel, and we all know what happens when we fill petrol in a diesel car! And the Ranger has our roof tent on top of the cabin making it extra ‘tall’ when passing toll gates with height barriers.

To prime my brain’s attention, I stuck a note on the dashboard to remind me that I had to be extra vigilant when I came to toll gates. As the note is in my visual field, my brain kept making a note of both. The diesel was not so critical as I knew I would only fuel up once. But I was passing many toll gates to and from Port Dickson. I could not get it wrong.

Every time I approached a toll gate, my brain immediately alerted me to first check if my lane was ‘tall’ enough. For non-Malaysians reading this, we have several options for paying at our toll gates. I use a signal transmitting device to pay and there are typically fewer lanes for this system. I had to do a quick check to see if there were height barriers on these lanes and if yes, I had to take the trucks and buses lane. (Our toll operators are not consistent with the barriers and their heights at every toll gate).

Quite a bit of processing to do and lucky, my brain, via my note, got me to Port Dickson and back without tearing our roof tent! Just as Kala primed her brain to find her sea legs.

I write this after returning home having dropped Quoc off at the airport to catch his flight to Vietnam and Kala and Nesa at their home. It was a privilege indeed to welcome them back and congratulate them on their epic maiden voyage. My friends who are sailors are in awe of them. It will only get better from here they say. And I shall make sure that I am part of one of those future adventures!

As always, you can reach me at yoga@yoganesadurai.com